Oud has been the “it” fragrance ingredient for a few years now, and to be honest, I’ve missed out on the trend because I wasn’t into perfumes for about a year and a half. But I’m back in the game now (I’m sure you can tell by some recent fragrance reviews) and the first fragrance review of the year is going to be an oud-containing one.
So this is a powdery floral oriental fragrance and the addition of oud makes it smell quite dirty and masculine which is nice. The oud is apparent from the first spritz – trust me, you’ll notice it’s there, it’s the slightly off-smelling note, which is nice because it means that they really went there with the oud.
Notes include: Orange Blossom, Cardamom seed, Rose, Oud, Saffron, Vanilla, Leather, Woody Notes.
The vanilla makes the fragrance almost-sweet but not gourmand, and the rose is subtle – I got more of a melange of floral notes rather than just a rose one.
The oud is in the opening of the scent and then does calm down as you wear the fragrance which is nice.
The bottle of Valentina Oud Assoluto is indicative of the feeling of this scent – it’s daring, yet feminine, yet different.
You can get the EDP at Holt Renfrew – $148 for 80ml.
